• About

ViewfromaRam

~ – Since I was young……

ViewfromaRam

Monthly Archives: September 2015

15th September – Ince off the mark as solid Rams win again

15 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by petekobryn in Championship

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

3pts, Craig Forsyth, Cyrus Christie, Derby County Football Club, Rams, Reading, Richard Keogh, Tom Ince

15th September

Reading                    0         Orlando Sa sent off 45+2

Derby County         1          Tom Ince 69

Games at Reading have proved difficult for Derby County over the years so this hard earned win is particularly pleasing.

An organised and solid Rams team took the points thanks to Tom Ince’s first goal of the season moving up to 10th place in the process.

This was a game of few thrills and spills, Ince’s neatly taken goal being our best chance, the only other incident of note being the dismissal of Reading’s Orlanda Sa just before the break for head butting Jason Shackell.

Paul Clement talked of surprising people in an interview before this game and made three changes to the team to keep both us and the players on their toes.

Lee Grant found himself back on the bench after his good performance at Preston with Scott Carson restored to the starting XI.

The rotating of keepers does bother me, the position more than most others demands stability but at the moment we seem to be recreating the era of England of c.1978 where Peter Shilton & Ray Clemence were selected in turn by Ron Greenwood.

Carson played well when called into action, pulling off one notable save from Oliver Norwood

Two other changes to the team that beat Preston saw the injured Chris Baird missing out and Stephen Warnock move to the bench to be replaced by Jeff Hendrick and Craig Forsyth with Bradley Johnson playing the pivotal defensive midfielder role in a 4-3-3.

Chris Martin took the captain’s armband in the absence of Baird in a move that appropriately reflects his importance to the team.

It was an energetic start to the game with the hosts winning a couple of corners in the first minute, but without causing any problems for the Rams.

Derby responded with a good move inspired by Johnny Russell’s good work, Russell found Chris Martin on the edge of the area but our No.9 wasn’t able to get the ball out of his feet and Jeff Hendrick’s shot, after picking up the ball, was deflected wide, though the referee did not award the corner it warranted.

The Rams were content to hold their shape and the game moved along without much incident. Jacob Butterfield unleashed a couple of powerful shots from distance, both blocked well by the Reading defence and just past the half hour Scott Carson pulled off an excellent save from a Oliver Norwood looper.

An increasingly quiet and uneventful half came to life just before the end of added time when Royals striker Orlanda Sa, fresh from a hat-trick against Ipswich Town last time out, head butted Jason Shackell (surely not a good idea?) following a niggle between the two players and was given a red card for his trouble.

The Rams were well organised in the first half without ever really threatening the home team consistently. Equally the Royals had not dominated though they flickered with more attacking threat and intent.

Derby made a good start to the second half, an early move culminating in Cyrus Christie firing a shot towards goal.

Just past the hour the Rams made a change, showing some aggressive intent, Darren Bent coming on in place of Jeff Hendrick.

In a quiet second half Bradley Johnson again showed well, putting himself about, playing some good passes and adding a physical presence to our midfield.

The Rams took the lead on 69 minutes with a well worked goal.

Jacob Butterfield played the ball to Chris Martin on the edge of the area and Tom Ince, who’d had a quiet game up to that point, popped up in the area to get on the end of a neat pass from Martin and poke in his first goal of the season.

The rest of the game played out without too much anxiety, Reading, despite being a player down, did press as the game came to its end, but without ever really carving out a clear chance.

Both of our full backs had a decent game with Cyrus Christie showing more of the form and confidence of early last season and Craig Forsyth galloping forward regularly; Fozzie also came close with a late chance blazing a first time volley just over.

Richard Keogh continued his impressive start to the season, composed and organised, his partnership with Jason Shackell increasingly the bedrock of our team.

Reading are a useful team with a habit of turning us over so this is an excellent three points won in a professional and workmanlike way.

Two away wins sets us up nicely for the visit of Burnley next Monday –  what price a nice 1-0 win courtesy of a goal from one J.Shackell ?

Played GD Pts
8 Nottingham Forest 7 1 11
9 QPR 6 1 10
10 Derby County 7 1 10
11 Reading 7 4 9
12 Charlton Athletic 7 1 9
13 Fulham 6 1 8

12th September – Martin at the double for Rams first win

13 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by petekobryn in Championship

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

3pts, Bradley Johnson, Chris Baird, Chris Martin, Derby County Football Club, Jacob Butterfield, Johnny Russell, Lee Grant, Preston North End, Rams

12th September

Preston North End   1      Daniel Johnson 90+12

Derby County          2    Chris Martin 23, 36

With a sense of relief, and some characteristic jitteriness at the end of the game, the Rams won their first match of the season at the seventh attempt with this victory at Deepdale.

The win was overshadowed by a serious looking injury to skipper Chris Baird that lead to 15 minutes of added time following him being stretchered off the pitch. Fortunately Baird was released from hospital following a scan later in the evening.

This was a game where Derby looked comfortable for long periods, scored two excellent goals and played some attractive incisive football.

As is often the case, though, we fell deeper and deeper as the game moved to its end and invited the hosts onto us.

Is this a fitness and stamina thing I wonder? It is to be hoped that as the season progresses we will look stronger and fitter towards the end of games.

Hearing a Paul Clement team announced is turning out to be an exercise in surprises and this game was no exception.

Lee Grant was one of five changes from the team that lost at home to Leeds United. Scott Carson was not injured as he was named on the bench, and this was not I change I would have predicted or indeed wanted.

To be fair to Granty and the boss though he played very well and made a couple of important saves in the second half – so what do I know ?

Other starting changes included the two deadline day signings Bradley Johnson & Jacob Butterfield, Stephen Warnock & Cyrus Christie.

Along with Scott Carson the injured George Thorne stepped down while Craig Forsyth, Jeff Hendrick and Jamie Hanson moved to the bench.

The debutants looked good and gave us something new, Johnson particularly adding urgency, physical presence and a bristle to our midfield

Both Johnson & Butterfield made their presence felt in the first minute with strong challenges and Johnson was much in evidence in the first quarter of an hour including a trademark left foot pile driver of a shot which was deflected away for a corner.

The Rams took the lead for the first time this season with a goal on 23 minutes born of Johnny Russell’s superb pass, played into Chris Martin who put the ball away with coolness for his third goal of the season.

It was almost immediately 2-0 as Tom Ince broke into the area, his chance for a shot gone he played it to Bradley Johnson who clipped the post with his effort.

Why doesn’t Chris Martin take more free kicks?

I’ve seen him score a couple of belters and on 36 minutes he put another one away after the ever impressive Johnny Russell ran the Lilywhites’ defence ragged and won a free kick on the edge of the D to put us 2-0 up.

This was our best half of the season, the home team didn’t carve out a meaningful chance and Lee Grant had little to do.

The Rams started well in the second half, moving the ball well around and into the Preston area but the momentum eased off as the hour mark neared and the home team pressed more.

Lee Grant pulled off two excellent saves on 70 & 75 mins from Stevie May & Daniel Johnson and then a Joe Garner shot struck the post and flew back into Grant’s arms to the relief of the army of 3,000+ travelling Rams.

The injury to Chris Baird looked a bad one as he came off worst in a clash of heads and required treatment on the pitch before being carried off.

This left the Rams one player short for the remainder of the game with Hendrick, Weimann and Forsyth already having been brought on for Butterfield, Ince & Warnock.

The long delay seemed to take the wind out of Preston’s sails, their energy being diminished after the restart.

Without over committing the Rams carved out another chance with Hendrick pulling the ball back for Weimann whose excellent shot was pushed away by Jordan Pickford.

As the half moved into the 57th minute and, everyone was wondering just when the game would finish, the season of deflected goals chalked up another one as Daniel Johnson’s shot looped past the helpless Grant.

Flashbacks to the Birmingham game last season not withstanding we held on for those valuable three points.

Chris Martin and Johnny Russell were excellent again and, indeed, are solely responsible for our league goals so far this season.

Getting this first win was important and takes some of the pressure off. Next up is a trip to Reading, fresh from a 5-1 thumping of Ipswich Town.

With a busy treatment table this is going to be another test of the Rams squad.

Played GD Pts
12 Leeds United 6 1 8
13 Nottingham Forest 6 0 8
14 Derby County 6 0 7
15 MK Dons 6 -1 7
16 Wolves 6 -2 7
17 Bolton Wanderers 6 -3 6

Views from this Ram

Blog Stats

  • 2,207 hits

Tags

0 pts 0pts 1 pt 1pt 3-5-2 3pts 4-4-2 Blackburn Rovers blogging101 Bolton Wanderers Bournemouth Brighton & Hove Albion Cardiff City Chelsea Chesterfield Chris Martin Chris Powell Chris Wood Craig Bryson Craig Forsyth Cyrus Christie Darren Bent Derby County Football Club Eden Hazard Game Management George Thorne Housemartins Ian Holloway Ipswich Town Jack Butland Jacob Laursen Jake Buxton Jamie Hanson Jamie Ward Jason Shackell Jeff Hendrick Jesse Lingard Jim Smith John Eustace Johnny Russell Jordan Ibe League Cup Leeds Utd Lee Grant Leon Best Malcolm Christie Mason Bennett Middlesbrough Norwich City Nottingham Forest Omar Mascarell Patrick Bamford Paul Clement Rams Raul Albentosa Reading referee Richard Keogh Rotherham United Ryan Shotton Scott Carson Seagulls Sheep Simon Dawkins Southport Stephen Warnock Steve McClaren Tom Ince Top of the League Uwe Rosler Watford Will Hughes Wolverhampton Wanderers Yakubu Zak Whitbread

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9 other subscribers

View from a Ram

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • ViewfromaRam
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • ViewfromaRam
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar